


Through the Years (If the Fates Allow)

by jedichick04



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Arrow Seasons 1-4, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Olicity Fluff, Olicity Secret Santa, Olicity Secret Santa 2015, UST, olicity christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 13:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5542172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedichick04/pseuds/jedichick04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity Smoak went back and forth for two weeks on whether to give Oliver Queen the little stupid green arrow key chain for Christmas. Five Christmases in the lives of Felicity and Oliver. (Spoilers through 4x09.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through the Years (If the Fates Allow)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NerdyAddict](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyAddict/gifts).



> Title is from “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Written for the Olicity Secret Santa 2015 as a gift for NerdyAddict (diggo26 on Tumblr). Diane, you always brighten my day when I see your posts and your fics. You have a wonderful sense of humor. You are a good person, a good friend, and a valuable member of the Olicity community. Merry Christmas to you!

 

 

* * *

 

_Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~J.L.W. Brooks_

 

* * *

_December 2012_

Felicity Smoak went back and forth for two weeks on whether to give Oliver Queen the little stupid green arrow key chain for Christmas.

She wouldn't have even considered giving him a present, but something had happened when he'd popped in asking her to research the arrow for his "buddy Steve." He'd wished her a merry Christmas, and she'd automatically informed him that she was Jewish. It was a response ingrained in her over the years, something else to differentiate herself from all the kids who'd never understood her at school anyways. She was used to a vague response in return, a blank smile or a bland "Happy Holidays." In no way would she have imagined that Oliver would stop in his tracks, turn around, and warmly wish her "Happy Hanukkah."

So when she saw the key chain when she was out shopping, she bought it impulsively. She wasn't quite ready to say that Oliver Queen was the vigilante running around Starling City taking down bad guys. But he was without a doubt at least _working_ with the guy. And with the way his lies were getting more and more ridiculous, Felicity was ready to spare him the bother of trying to lie each and every time he needed her help.

On the other hand, what if the vigilante was upset that she'd figured it out? Would he come after her next, despite her supreme lack of a place in the city's top 1% of income makers? Shouldn't the vigilante be pissed off at Oliver himself for providing such ridiculous lies? But no one had accused the vigilante of being a logical person, that was for sure.

She was still trying to weigh the pros and cons of giving Oliver the key chain when the local news went crazy over Oliver being in some kind of motorcycle accident and ending up in the hospital. Felicity called Walter to check on Oliver. Stupid and impulsive, maybe...but despite the conflicting thoughts she was having over where Oliver spent his nights, and his ridiculous lies, Oliver was someone she was starting to think of as a friend. She was relieved when he turned out to be okay. Well, okay enough. He would be spending a bit of time in the hospital and wouldn't be riding motorcycles for fun any time soon.

Or maybe he wouldn't be arrowing any criminals and lowlifes any time soon.

Walter had to get off the phone when he went to enter the elevator, but he said he'd call Felicity back. When twenty minutes had gone by without a call back, she got nervous. She tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail. She knew in her gut something was wrong but after trying several more times, she kept getting the same result. It wasn't until the next day that there were vague reports on the news that Walter had disappeared.

With everything else Oliver was sure to have going on, Felicity decided against sending him the present. She did end up sending him a card, nothing fancy, just a wish to get well soon.

(She found it when they were moving into the loft. She couldn't believe he'd kept it. Oliver had just smiled sheepishly and drawn her in for a kiss.)

Nearly two months later, she met the Starling City vigilante, on the same night she realized her feelings for Oliver Queen were more than just a crush. Turns out she was right--they _were_ one and the same.

That was the same night her life really began.

 

* * *

  _December 2013_

There was something about the mask Barry Allen had given Oliver as an early Christmas gift. Felicity wasn't sure if Oliver was just taking her words to heart (and that would be a first), or if he felt a greater freedom with having his identity further concealed. In any case, Oliver had been busy since Barry left town, infused with a new purpose.

It wasn't any surprise that he'd beaten her to the Arrow Cave (not that she dared called it that in front of him), but what _was_ a surprise was the gift wrapped box set carefully in front of her keyboards. She approached it carefully, her head tilted to one side, trying to figure out where it came from.

"What is this?"

Felicity caught the faint rustle of movement before Oliver stepped towards her computers from where he'd been lurking. "It's a present."

"I knew _that_ ," Felicity replied, glancing up at him--and _wow_ , he was tall. "I meant, why is it sitting in the middle of my computers when Christmas is twenty days away?"

"Oh--I thought--" Oliver's brow was furrowed as he spoke. "It's the last day of Hanukkah, isn't it?"

Felicity just stared at him, her mind going blank. Because he couldn't--he wasn't--he knew when Hanukkah was?

"I thought it was--it's not Hanukkah?" He reached for the package on the desk, but Felicity batted his hand away.

"Yes, it's Hanukkah," she replied. "And I'm going to open this now, if you don't mind."

Judging from the amused expression in his eyes, he didn't mind. She ignored him and ripped the paper off the box, gasping in delight when she saw that it contained a top of the line tablet. "How did you--?"

"You've mentioned it a few times in the last few weeks," Oliver said. "I, uh, thought it must be important,  if you kept mentioning it."

"It's perfect," she replied happily, already opening up the box. "Thank you, Oliver. I don't know who you threatened to get ahold of one of these, but thank you."

"I didn't have to threaten anyone," he asserted, but she was already deeply involved in setting up her new tablet. He watched her for a few minutes, the corners of his mouth creasing up as she muttered under her breath at the new technology.

(No matter how out of date the tablet got, she refused to throw it out in later years. "It was the first real gift you got me," she would tell him, and he'd wonder aloud at her patience for those first few years, and inevitably she'd remind him with a kiss that it had all been worth it.)

Diggle showed up not long after and wiped the smile off Oliver's face with a long sparring session. But through it all, Felicity was happily in her own little world with her new little baby.

 

* * *

_December 2014_

Central City had been bright and full of promise, just like the last time she'd visited, earlier in the fall. Only unlike the last time, Oliver had been part of the sunshine--and he'd let it affect him. Just seeing him smiling back at her, his blue eyes twinkling in the sun, made Felicity remember another sunny smile on a distant beach.

She'd gone back and forth on getting him a holiday present. Would it send the wrong impression? She was trying to keep away from accidentally encouraging him. If he wanted more than a friendship--if he wanted to act on the flirtations he'd started in Central City--then he needed to stop thinking he was the one who got to make all the decisions.

And it was that thought--that Oliver _didn't_  get to decide to just shut her out of his life--that led her to purchase a mixture of DVDs. Over the summer, when she had been helping Oliver study for getting back Queen Consolidated and he'd been missing Thea, he'd admitted that watching classic movies together was kind of a thing he and Thea had always done. So Felicity purchased a few classics, as well as a few movies she'd told Oliver over the summer he _needed_  to see when she'd referenced them and he'd just stared at her blankly. Friends could get each other DVDs. And even if they could never be anything more, because of how determined Oliver was to bury down any human feeling he had, Felicity would always consider herself Oliver's friend.

But Oliver, it seemed, had a way of surprising her, even two and a half years after they met. She'd had a pit in her stomach ever since they determined it was Thea who killed Sara, and it only grew worse when Oliver insisted on putting the blame for the events on himself. The pit grew worse as he packed up to face Ra's al Ghul. Felicity knew she couldn't convince him not to go, so she asked him to kill Ra's al Ghul instead, to settle this once and for all.

And instead of saying goodbye, Oliver told her he loved her.

She stood there for the longest time, staring after where he went. He had to return. Any other outcome was unthinkable.

But the hours turned to days. The days, to weeks. And still Oliver didn't return.

Malcolm Merlyn brought a sword covered in Oliver's blood. Felicity thought of _The Princess Bride_ , one of the movies she'd bought for Oliver, and a quote from it: "Death cannot stop true love."

(Oliver found the wrapped DVDs tucked under the bed in the Foundry, one night not long after he'd returned. He'd watched them, even as things were as tense as ever between Felicity and him. He never dreamed he'd get his own happily ever after within the next year.)

Death cannot stop true love. Except when dealing with the League of Assassins and a sword on a cold mountaintop somewhere.

 

* * *

_December 2015_

What a difference a year made.

Had it really only been just last Christmas that Oliver had simply said "I love you," without any caveats or syringes? It felt like several lifetimes ago. In some ways, it _was_  several lifetimes ago. Oliver had nearly died--she thought he _had_ died. Thea had nearly died. Roy's death had been faked. Ray and Sara had both come back to life.

And Oliver had chosen a life with her.

And for all that they were still trying to figure out their life together, Felicity loved that they _were_  figuring out a life. There were some bumps in the road, but overall it had been a smooth transition. And because they were working on the whole 'making decisions as a team' thing (and Oliver's inability to _stop texting her mother_ ), this time, her mother's visit had been planned. Oliver had asked Felicity if she wanted her mother to visit for Hanukkah and through Christmas, He had been quietly eager for a family holiday in a way that left Felicity even more in love with him than she'd thought possible. It still caught her off guard, this thirst for normalcy Oliver had, the fierce desire he threw into living a full life now, as much as he'd disregarded the thought in previous years.

They'd decorated the tree the night her mom arrived, along with Thea and a copious supply of hot chocolate. Two new ornaments were added to the tree bearing the names "Donna" and "Felicity," looking right at home with the ornaments from the Queen siblings' childhood marked "Oliver" and "Thea."

Oliver had been very deliberate about hauling the ornament boxes out himself-- not that Felicity objected to him putting those muscles to good use, but normally he at least let her attempt to help. But she didn't think anything of it until two days later, when she walked into their loft after she'd managed to bring down the drone that attacked them all at the bay. Her mother had found the rest of the decoration boxes, dragging them into the living room without anyone else's help. And that's where the gorgeous engagement ring was hiding.

In all their time away that summer, Felicity hadn't gone there in her mind. She'd been too busy living in the moment, discovering all the little things about Oliver that she never thought she'd have a chance to learn. But confronted with the flawless diamond, she saw it all. She saw a future with Oliver, as his partner in all things, and she wanted it more than she ever thought she would. She didn't even mind her mother's shrieks and plans to take Felicity for a manicure. Her mind began to race with a thousand different ways Oliver might surprise her with the question--and she already had her answer on the tip of her tongue.

She almost asked him the question herself when they were locked in a cell together, uncertain of their fate. But she did the next best thing, and assured him exactly what her answer would be, if he had asked before or if he would ask in the future.

When he pulled her up on stage and told the gathered crowd that there was one person in particular he was grateful for, that she was the one who lit his way, she couldn't help how she started beaming. And for as ready as she'd been since she'd found the ring to tell him yes, for once words failed her as he asked the question she'd been waiting for. The light of the tree felt perfect as he slipped the ring on her finger, as they hugged and kissed and couldn't believe how happy they both were in that moment.

"I don't know how I'll ever top this gift," Felicity had told him with a laugh the moment before they were surrounded by her mother and Thea and Diggle and the Lances.

(Oliver couldn't bring himself to unwrap any of the gifts while Felicity lay comatose in the hospital. They ended up opening them in February that year. Oliver would always say the best gift that year was the moment he saw Felicity's blue eyes open as she came out of her coma.)

"But that's the thing," Oliver said when they got another moment, just the two of them. "You're the one who gave _me_ the gift."

With the look they shared after that, it was no wonder they were in a hurry to get to the limo and get home. There were presents of a different kind to unwrap.

 

* * *

_December 2016_

The diamond ring was just as sparkly as it had been under the lights of a different Christmas tree, but it was now joined by a second sparkling band. It hadn't been there very long, but it still looked right at home, nestled on her finger.

And it was completely unaffected by the man shaking his head at her as he handed her a bottle of wine. "Felicity, I think you're being a _little_ extreme. Nothing's going to happen."

"I know. Because we're not going anywhere, we're trusting the team to fight evil in our place, and neither of us is going to miss Christmas or Hanukkah this year," Felicity replied, setting the wine bottle down on the floor before she patted the carpet next to her. "We're going to sit in front of the fire and open presents in front of each other and enjoy our honeymoon."

Oliver smiled as he joined her on the ground, then wrapped the blanket around them both. "Does that mean there aren't any emails here in Ivy Town?"

"Not this week, there aren't," she informed him as she poured them both a glass of wine. Then she slid a small wrapped package towards him. "Here. Speaking of presents."

"It's Christmas Eve," he said in amusement as he took the present.

"And the first night of Hanukkah," she replied. She tilted her head at him, her blonde, tangled curls swishing over one bare shoulder. "Which you already knew, Mr. Freakish Memory." Felicity smiled and took a sip of her wine. "It's a present that's long overdue."

Her husband shot her a questioning look, but was met with Felicity's innocent smile. He shook his head and opened the wrapping carefully.

When he held up the green arrow key chain, Felicity said, carefully, "I almost gave you that four years ago."

She could see the moment Oliver put two and two together. "After I brought you Merlyn's arrow?"

"I'd suspected for a while," she told him, not that this was _exactly_  news to him--he was well aware of how well she put puzzle pieces together. "And if Walter hadn't gotten kidnapped, I might have gone through with it. But you had enough to deal with, and I wasn't sure how the Starling City vigilante would deal with an IT girl who was determined to solve any mystery that was put in front of her."

"He probably would have growled and grumbled and then realized it was for the best," Oliver said, leaning in and brushing his lips against her shoulder. "Thank you." He lifted up the key chain. "And thanks for finally giving it to me."

"Well, you have to have some place for the keys to the city. And to the loft. And the house. And if I ever let you drive my car again--"

"It's a Mini. I _don't fit_."

(Oliver used the key chain up until their eldest daughter's sixteenth birthday, when she was presented with the green arrow key chain and a key to a much more sensible car than Oliver had wanted to give her. Felicity had overruled him on that front, which was probably for the best. Their daughter and a sports car could be a dangerous combination.)

"I'm still surprised you fit in the Porsche."

"For driving, yes. For other things--"

"Show me these _other_  things, Mr. Queen."

"Mmm--if it's you asking, Mrs. Queen..."

"Happy Hanukkah to _me_."


End file.
